The Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC has flagged off distribution of 72,000 desks and chairs to public schools across the nine states in the region.
The flag-off was performed by the Managing Director of the commission, Obong Nsima Ekere in the Akwa Ibom State office of the NDDC on Monday, January 29, 2018.
Ekere urged representatives of member states in the commission to properly consult and work in conjunction with their state’s ministry of education to take the desks and chairs to schools that need them most.
He said the commission takes child education as a priority that was why it pays attention to critical needs in the education sector, regretted that some pupils in public schools sat on bare floor to learn.
“We believe that a well educated child is a security for the future.
“The provision of these desks and chairs arose from needs assessment. The environment that some of our pupils learn is far from conducive. We have seen schools where pupils can not learn once it rains. In some of those schools, pupils sit on the floor”.
Ekere said 115 schools in Akwa Ibom State benefited from NDDC interventions in 2017.
Akwa Ibom State representative in the commission, Elder Sam Frank said 9600 desks and chairs have been allocated to the state for distribution to schools.
Frank emphasised that “NDDC is not competing with state government but complementing what the state government is doing”.
Acting Director, Education, Health and Social Services in the commission, Mrs Madumere said the desks and chairs to be distributed to schools were based on “requests from stakeholders and need assessment”.
